Coaching Drills and Skills Welcome to Carine Cats Ball Club. This is an introduction to some coaching techniques and various drills that you can use when training your team. This is not a comprehensive coaching and training manual, just some examples that have worked with my teams as I have tried to teach our kids to play the great game of Tee‐Ball. The purpose of this is to give you a range of drills to use at training throughout the season, and to assist you in developing the skills of your players. We want the player’s skills to develop each year so they can enjoy more challenges in the game, and provide a platform for them to be able to move on to play Baseball or Softball if they choose. I hope you enjoy coaching as much as I have and see your children develop in to not just great players, but great sports, great people and great team mates. Thanks for taking your time and effort to coach your teams, and develop your players. Our club is built on your efforts! Brian White Coaching Coordinator ([email protected]) THE START OF TRAINING Throw and Catch – One of the most important skills in Tee‐Ball is to be able to throw accurately to your team mate, and to receive those throws. At the start of training get the kids to pair up, not too far apart, and throw to each other. As they get warmed up they can gradually increase the distance between them. For younger players they can line up in front of the coach instead, but try to get them throwing with their team mates as soon as they can. Ensure that the players are throwing accurately, aiming for the center chest of their team mate, and the throws are arriving on target. Also ensure that the catcher is well balanced and has their glove in the correct position to catch the ball, ie “hands up”. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu‐qaaVLmNo (Coaching Youth Baseball Catching Drills & Skills Pt 1). This is a great way to start training, and to warm up, given not everyone will arrive at exactly the same time to training. Once a good block of throwing and catching has been done, the players can start to incorporate other skills such as fielding ground balls directly at them, on their glove side & non‐glove side, and catching fly balls. Refer to the links page at the end of the document for examples of these options. Pepper / “Stinky Cheese” – Pepper is another great way to start training and can be played with a few players, or your whole team, so it is a fun way to start as your players are still arriving. Arrange the players a couple of meters in front of the coach, and so that they are at least arm’s length apart. If you are good enough you can use a baseball / tee‐ball bat, but I always used a cricket bat as it is easier to direct the ball. Hit a small hit to the first player on the right hand side of the line, on the full, and have them catch it. Then get the player to lob the ball back to the coach, under armed, and hit it to the next player to the left. Continue down the line from right to left, hitting catches to each player in turn. In our version we made the catches easier to take at the right side of the line, and harder to catch as we moved to the left. The most difficult catch would be to the player at the far left hand side, and I would try to make them dive. If a player can not take the catch, they are to proceed to the far right at the end of the line, and become the “stinky cheese”. All players that were behind them move up one place with the aim of getting to the far left hand side, to become the “King” or “Queen” (depending on boys or girls) ‐ Coach to try and ensure all players cycle through the line. Our players took ownership of Pepper and came up with the term “stinky cheese”. It was a bit of fun and added to the good natured competition and banter within our team. Give your team the opportunity to personalize this to something for them if they want. Carine Cats Ball Club Okely Road, Carine WA 6020 ~ www.carinecats.com.au ~ [email protected] Coaching Drills and Skills WARM UP Stretching / Light Jog – Run the kids through a light jog and stretching regime. At the age of most Tee‐Ballers, stretching is not critical, but it is a good opportunity to talk to your players about it and demonstrate from time to time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPBx7lkLK4A (Dragon Youth Baseball Pre Practice Warmup) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsvs0t9ctkM (baseball stretches/ Legit Baseball) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GY4nLILbi4 (Baseball Arm Stretches and Throwing Warm Up) Base Running – Base running is a skill that should be practiced and is a great way to get your players moving and warmed up. It is also a great chance to have a competition between the kids and let them race. Encourage the kids to run as hard and efficiently as possible. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0hQU51ms58 (Base Running Tips ‐ The 3 Ways to Become a THREAT on the Base Paths) for tips on how to run through and around a base. I suggest that the players look at their base coach in the game instead of the ball as stated in the video. Chasey ‐ Line the kids up near Home and, using your arm as a boom gate, tells the kids when to start running around the bases. Tell them to run as fast as they can, and for the kid behind to try and catch the kid in front. Try to start them so that they get close to catching the kids in front, or even to catch them, near Home Plate. Shuffle the order and run it again with a different kid at the front so they all get to chase. Run through First – Pair up kids of similar speed at Home Plate and get them to run as fast as they can to First Base in a race. Setup a base next to First Base (a meter or so away) so that each kid can run to their own base and there are no collisions. Have a parent or coach at the finish line to call the winner of each. Make sure the bases are touched and the runners turn to their RIGHT when slowing down after hitting the base. Repeat with different pairs of racers. Relay Race – Split the team into two groups of similar running ability. Have one group start at Home Plate and the other at Second Base. On “Start” get the first runner from each group to run around the bases and tag their team mate when they get back to the starting point, before the next runner heads off. Remove the Home Plate for this drill as it is not pegged down and we don’t want the kids to slip on it. Relay Race with Sliding – Same as above, but get the runner to slide into each base, then hop back up and continue to the next base. Do this for all bases except when returning to their starting point. Make sure the kids are wearing their Tee‐Ball pants when doing this drill and encourage them to try Pop‐up slides when ready. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRqqQGQt9FU (How To: POP UP SLIDE TUTORIAL!) Hot Potato – Split the players up into groups of 3 or 4 and give each group one ball (no gloves). Each group will race around the diamond while throwing the ball between them. No player is allowed to hold the ball for longer than 1 or 2 seconds, and they are not allowed to throw it back to the same player that threw it to them. All players in the group must get to throw and catch, and they should stay within a few meters of each other. One player, while holding the ball, must touch each base as they go past it. Coach to time each run to create a competition and race between the groups of players. Talk to the kids about having quick hands and lots of talk and cooperation between their team mates. 2 Ball Catch – Split the group into pairs and have them line up opposite each other, a few meters apart. One line to start with each player holding 2 balls. Those players are to under arm throw both balls to their partner at the same time, who will try to catch both balls. Then that player can throw them both back to their team mate so they have a chance to catch as well. Give the kids some time to practice and then make a competition of it. If the balls are dropped, that team is out, and last one to keep catching wins. Adjust the pairs of players as required to even it out. Carine Cats Ball Club Okely Road, Carine WA 6020 ~ www.carinecats.com.au ~ [email protected] Coaching Drills and Skills FIELDING DRILLS The following are a series of drills that can be used to practice fielding technique before moving on to drills around the diamond. Refer to the links page at the end of the document for examples of good fielding technique.